With recent advancements in wireless telecommunications, an increasing number of people are able to work in more isolated locations such as boats, vehicles, remote sites and cabins where traditional plumbing systems and electric power supply may not be available. There is therefore a need for a toilet that provides a convenient, clean, and an environmentally safe process for containing and disposing of human waste for use by people in such remote locations. There is also a need for such a toilet that is portable to allow for easy transport of the toilet to the desired remote location.
Traditional portable toilets that have been used in remote locations utilize chemicals to mask the unpleasant smell of human waste. In such chemical toilets, both the feces and urine of the user drop down into a receptacle that contains sufficient chemicals, typically liquid, to cover the feces and urine. The chemicals prevent breakdown of the human waste and are scented to mask the odor of the waste. However, the chemicals used in such chemical toilets are often environmentally harmful. Also, chemical toilets are limited in their ability to contain more than a few days worth of human waste, since the receptacle containing the chemicals and the human waste may begin to overflow. And even if the receptacle is emptied, it requires that additional chemicals be on hand to replace the discarded chemicals, otherwise the toilet will not operate satisfactorily and the smell of additional human waste will not be masked.
Other toilets have been employed that attempt to utilize composting of feces rather than chemicals. It has long been known that feces may be composted, that is, the organic matter of human feces decays and becomes a relatively odorless substance that is environmentally friendly, and is in fact well suited for use as a fertilizer. It is also known, however, that the presence of excess urine significantly slows the rate of composting of feces.
Certain prior art composting toilets have a receptacle into which both feces and urine fall. These toilets require the user to drop peat moss into the composting chamber after each use in order to absorb excess urine, since otherwise the excess urine reduces the rate of composting of the feces. While such toilets utilizing peat moss have been found to be effective, they require that a supply of peat moss be maintained on hand, and the requirement of adding additional peat moss after each use makes the composting chamber fill up quickly, requiring an unacceptably frequent rate of emptying of the composting chamber. There is a need for a composting toilet that can operate effectively without requiring the continual addition of more peat moss.
Other prior art composting toilets have a receptacle into which both feces and urine fall, and these composting toilets overcome the problem of excess urine by utilizing heating elements to heat up the feces and urine. A fan circulates air in the composting chamber, to evaporate the excess urine in order to facilitate improved composting of the feces. However, such heating elements utilize considerable amounts of energy, and the combination of the heating elements and the fan requires too much energy for many applications. Thus there is a need for a composting toilet that does not require such significant amounts of energy.
Other prior art marine toilets are designed to handle raw sewage in its conventional liquid form, i.e., urine, fecal matter and flush water, and require vacuum pumping of the waste.